Hemlock Roots

A sacred plant present in the old gar­dens con­se­crat­ed to Hecate, Hem­lock (Coni­um Mac­u­la­tum) is a foul smelly plant that grows in hedges and way­side areas. His­tor­i­cal­ly speak­ing, this plant was the killer of Socrates, and was used by Eleu­sian priests in order to numb their limbs help­ing them remain chaste. It is a plant of ill-omens, mes­sen­ger of Death, a paralysing drug, a poi­son of curse and barrenness.

In terms of its cos­mol­o­gy and mythol­o­gy, it is con­sid­ered a plant of Cain, as well as one of the four spir­it-herbs of Cor­nelius Agrip­pa (togeth­er with smal­l­age, corian­der, and hen­bane). It was regard­ed as a gift from the Oth­er­world among Ger­man­ic and Norse peo­ples,  and, as stat­ed by Mar­i­ja Gimbu­tas, a con­nec­tion with the spir­its of the Oth­er­world and Mal­efi­ci­um, “Hem­lock thus stands in close asso­ci­a­tion with the toad god­dess, an earth deity ven­er­at­ed espe­cial­ly by Baltic tribes.” (Mar­i­ja Gimbu­tas, The Balts, 1983; p330)

Ade­quate for work­ing both as an ally in herbal con­coc­tions and as a fetish, this herb has been long relat­ed to works of necro­man­cy, curs­ing, and bind­ing. In terms of its witch-relat­ed his­to­ry, this plant was an ingre­di­ent of the so-called Witch­es Oint­ment of ear­ly mod­ern times, accord­ing to the six­teenth-cen­tu­ry doc­tor Andrés Lagu­na. But, more rep­re­sen­ta­tive­ly, it was one of the con­stituents of the soporif­ic sponges that were the ori­gin of the mod­ern anes­the­sia. This is an indica­tive of its pow­er when har­ness­ing and dom­i­nat­ing a body or spirit.

A har­vest­ing note (images of the har­vest­ing process car­ried out by Occvlta):

Hem­lock has a strong and stub­born root, that demands not only time, but also cun­ning. We decid­ed to har­vest it at night, under the light of the moon, by iron and hand. The poignant smell of the plant is intox­i­cat­ing and even nau­se­at­ing for those unac­cus­tomed to it, and one shall be vig­i­lant not to be per­me­at­ed by the steril­i­ty that the plant car­ries with­in. It would be advis­able to wash one­self with rue water after using it.

In Occvl­ta we offer two whole roots, har­vest­ed dur­ing the night of Wednes­day 12th of April 2017, accom­pa­nied by a plant offer­ing to be used in their con­se­cra­tion or sacrifice.

Mea­sure­ments:

Num­ber 1: 14 cm tall and 3 cm wide, includes roots ramifications
Num­ber 2: 12 cm tall and 3 cm wide, includes roots ramifications
Num­ber 3: 15 cm tall (main body) and 5 cm wide (main body), includes root ramifications

All roots are sold with a piece of infor­ma­tion and tools for con­se­crat­ing it. Avail­able at the Store.